UPDATE 1-Trump slams China on trade, says won't lose to Beijing

Published Mon, May 6 2019 8:07 AM EDT

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WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday slammed China over its trade practices, saying the United States was losing billions to Beijing and vowing to protect American commerce as tension escalated following his weekend threat to hike tariffs.

On Sunday, Trump said he would ratchet up tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports from China, escalating the dispute marked by tit-for-tat duties between Washington and Beijing as ongoing talks were set to continue this week.

Trump appeared to defend his Sunday statement, citing the trade deficit between the United States and China. "Sorry, we're not going to be doing that anymore!" he tweeted early Monday.

Trump and his advisers had said the talks were progressing well amid a round of negotiations in Beijing last week. But on Sunday, Trump said a trade deal was coming together too slowly.

He also said he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on $325 billion of Chinese goods "shortly," which would essentially mean all goods imported from China into the United States would be blanketed by duties. (Reporting by Makini Brice and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe)